On the Question of Driving Forces Behind the Creation in 1925 of a “Legal Mechanism for ‘Pushing’ Germany” to the East

DOI: 10.33917/es-5.197.2024.121-129

The article examines the driving forces that created, on the basis of the final documents of the Locarno Conference of 1925, the “legal mechanism for ‘pushing’ Germany to the East”. The actors in this process were located not only in Germany itself, but primarily outside its borders. The first group included a number of representatives of the ruling circles of Germany, in particular Chancellor Hans Luther and Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann, as well as representatives of industrial and financial circles, led by the protégé of the thalassocratic bankers, the German financier Hjalmar Schacht. The second group should include a certain part of the ruling circles of England (Austen Chamberlain, Edgar Vincent D’Abernon, etc.), the USA (President Calvin Coolidge, etc.), and France (Prime Minister Aristide Briand, etc.). The most significant role was played by financiers — director of the Bank of England Montagu Collett Norman and director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Benjamin Strong.

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